When I take a good look around me, I am truly humbled and grateful for the life I lead.
I am so grateful to have 4 beautiful, healthy, happy kids.
I think about how many children in the world are starving and cold, with nothing to drink but filthy water and I realize once again just how blessed we really are.
I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband that not only is glad I can be a stay at home mom, but supports me in that desire 100%.
I am so blessed to live in a country with so many freedoms, especially the freedom to school my children at home. I truly count this as one of my dearest blessings.
I love having my kids here with me, playing with each other and building deep and lasting bonds during these precious few years I've been given to be their mother.
I am so grateful for a sturdy and strong home to keep us warm with all the snow and wind and storms blowing all around us.
We don't live in a mansion. Sometimes it's hard to look at others' homes and not think, "I need this or I really wish our house had that."
But in the end, I really love our home and I know that most of the people in the world don't even have this much.
As I was driving through my town just the other day I passed a neighborhood with tiny, dilapidated homes that were visibly inhabited. I could not help but be grateful for the lovely home Mr Bird and I have made together.
When my parents-in-law went on a mission to South Africa a few years ago they showed us photos of these huge cities filled with millions of people. The houses in these cities were one or two room shacks whose walls were made from corrugated cardboard.
Ya, you heard me, cardboard. Millions of them.
Is that even comprehensible?
Do we even realize how many millions means?
It makes the times I pass my neighbors huge homes and sigh make me seem a little greedy and selfish.
You want to know another cure for not being truly content with what we have been blessed with?
Read The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Holy cow, they had almost nothing, yet they were so happy and considered themselves very blessed.
I am so glad to know that happiness does not come from the things we own, but from how much we treasure the people in our lives.
This season, more than ever I am so grateful for my Savior,
My Beautiful Savior.
I feel His love around me. I feel His peace, even if the world seems so uncertain and scary, I have been blessed to know that He is near, ever so near.
I feel His spirit whispering to me how I can be better.
He takes my hand and shows me how to be a better mother, a better wife, a better me.
And He does it with gentleness and love and mercy and not with harsh judgments or looks of scorn.
He make me what He wants me to be, and that person is infinitely better than I ever thought I could be all on my own.
I know all of these things seem to be the cookie cutter answers.
I'm thankful for my family, my home and my Savior.
Cookie cutter.
Everyone says these things.
But you know what? These things should be the answers.
These things should be the center of our lives. And so with a heart full of gratitude for my merciful and kind Father in Heaven I join with the millions of others this wonderful holiday season and thank Him for these things that I hold dearest to my heart;
My Family, My Home and My Savior!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. May it find you cozy and happy near the ones you love!
I am so grateful to have 4 beautiful, healthy, happy kids.
I think about how many children in the world are starving and cold, with nothing to drink but filthy water and I realize once again just how blessed we really are.
I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband that not only is glad I can be a stay at home mom, but supports me in that desire 100%.
I am so blessed to live in a country with so many freedoms, especially the freedom to school my children at home. I truly count this as one of my dearest blessings.
I love having my kids here with me, playing with each other and building deep and lasting bonds during these precious few years I've been given to be their mother.
I am so grateful for a sturdy and strong home to keep us warm with all the snow and wind and storms blowing all around us.
We don't live in a mansion. Sometimes it's hard to look at others' homes and not think, "I need this or I really wish our house had that."
But in the end, I really love our home and I know that most of the people in the world don't even have this much.
As I was driving through my town just the other day I passed a neighborhood with tiny, dilapidated homes that were visibly inhabited. I could not help but be grateful for the lovely home Mr Bird and I have made together.
When my parents-in-law went on a mission to South Africa a few years ago they showed us photos of these huge cities filled with millions of people. The houses in these cities were one or two room shacks whose walls were made from corrugated cardboard.
Ya, you heard me, cardboard. Millions of them.
Is that even comprehensible?
Do we even realize how many millions means?
It makes the times I pass my neighbors huge homes and sigh make me seem a little greedy and selfish.
You want to know another cure for not being truly content with what we have been blessed with?
Read The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Holy cow, they had almost nothing, yet they were so happy and considered themselves very blessed.
I am so glad to know that happiness does not come from the things we own, but from how much we treasure the people in our lives.
This season, more than ever I am so grateful for my Savior,
My Beautiful Savior.
I feel His love around me. I feel His peace, even if the world seems so uncertain and scary, I have been blessed to know that He is near, ever so near.
I feel His spirit whispering to me how I can be better.
He takes my hand and shows me how to be a better mother, a better wife, a better me.
And He does it with gentleness and love and mercy and not with harsh judgments or looks of scorn.
He make me what He wants me to be, and that person is infinitely better than I ever thought I could be all on my own.
I know all of these things seem to be the cookie cutter answers.
I'm thankful for my family, my home and my Savior.
Cookie cutter.
Everyone says these things.
But you know what? These things should be the answers.
These things should be the center of our lives. And so with a heart full of gratitude for my merciful and kind Father in Heaven I join with the millions of others this wonderful holiday season and thank Him for these things that I hold dearest to my heart;
My Family, My Home and My Savior!
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. May it find you cozy and happy near the ones you love!
2 comments:
I love how you are able to express your feelings so clearly! Your love for the Savior is beautiful, and an inspiration to me. The week of Thanksgiving is the perfect time to share our gratitude for Him.
Linda
Such a beautiful post, my friend.
I've had similar experiences lately, with realizing just how much I really have and how blessed my life is. It's not perfect and it's not exactly what I wanted for myself, but it's what my Savior wants for me, and I thank you for that reminder!
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